30 - day blogging challenge | Day 1 | the deaf girl with the 'fro

Photo Cred: Red Cardinal Studios

30 - day blogging challenge  |  Day 1   | the deaf girl with the  'fro

This blog post commences a 30-day blogging challenge because one of the biggest weaknesses about me in my business is that I don’t share more about who I am and what I do. I'm more comfortable bragging about all my amazing clients. Every single person I work with has their own story  that captivates me in some shape or form. The reason my work tends to be bright and bubbly is because my personality is that way. I don’t do dark and moody photos because I don’t relate to it. I don’t do landscape photos (often) because I identify with people more. I don’t do black and white photos with a vague quote for a caption because there is nothing inspirational to me about what that anonymous dude said. My social media platform has mostly been about other people even though my name is stamped on it. Well actually, my logo isn't even on my work anymore because it is ultimately not about me... it is about you, the person that captivated me today. Sure, professional photographers or artists would roll their eyes at me for for having no regard for the concept behind watermarking but I don’t care. 

The longer I’ve been self-employed, the better I have been about being my own cheerleader. It's not easy being a one-woman company with the occasional second-shooter sidekicks. There was a nonfiction writing class I took for a semester at UNC-Chapel Hill where I had to write a biography of my life and the class helped propel me out of my introverted shell. That’s when I started publicly telling complete strangers about my hearing loss without a smidge of embarrassment. Despite a whole semester of training, I still often find myself in conversations where I learn more about someone else’s life biography. The fact is —I’d much rather listen than talk. Even though I cannot hear well, I still read lips, I still interpret body language and I still absorb context clues that people are trying to understand me while I’m trying to understand them. Don’t get me wrong, curiosity is a healthy thing- it’s human nature to wonder about something you don’t know much about. It doesn’t change the fact that some people put a big question mark over me when they scroll through my profile and actually have a little backstory: “How deaf is she? Does she have deaf speech, does she sign?” “How does she make a living doing just photos? Isn’t photography super competitive?” “I wonder if she really just goes to the beach all day since she lives by the water.” “How does her hearing loss affect her job much less her everyday life?” Well those are the questions that will be answered over the course of the next several days. I will aim to post every work-day between 6:30-7:30pm. Be warned that there will be a lot of awkward, ungrammatically correct and real writing with a occasional photograph tacked on them. This blog challenge is encouraging me to start from square one and introduce myself to you because if I want you to feel comfortable with me, I've got to be real with you. If you wanna be mean, please leave your commentary elsewhere. If you have questions you want to ask me, don't be afraid to ask them. See below for a place where to ask. Don't worry I don't bite.

Tomorrow’s blog post will answer the question: “How deaf are you?” Well, on the scale from one to ten with ten being deaf as a doornail, I am about 9.8. You’ll see what I mean tomorrow.

My great-grandmother and namesake who was in fact not deaf, held me in her arms before passing away a month later.

My sister and I playing in the shower at our grandparent's cottage. As my hearing devices weren't waterproof, I'm not hearing anything but I'm completely happy in this bucket!